LOYAL fans of the Spice Girls insist they won't be put off by the poor reviews of the greatly anticipated musical.

The Spice Girls are reunited at the press night of Viva Forever, a musical based on their songs, at the Piccadilly Theatre in London.

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FUMING fans last night hit back after the Spice Girls musical Viva Forever! was panned – asking the critics: Who Do You Think You Are?

It’s sold millions of pounds worth of tickets and brought the world’s biggest girl band back together in a blaze of publicity.

But that didn’t stop reviewers brutally slating the musical after its world premiere at London’s Piccadilly Theatre.

All five members – Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm, Emma Bunton, Geri Halliwell, and Victoria Beckham – were there to see the curtain go up on the long-awaited stage show penned by Absolutely Fabulous star Jennifer Saunders.

But the champagne quickly went flat as reviewers united to stick the boot in.

The Mirror’s Alun Palmer wrote: “There is more female empowerment at a Taliban finishing school than in this show. It’s a shame a talented cast are let down by a cliched plot and leaden dialogue.

“Viva Forever? More like clapped-out Vauxhall Viva, five careless owners with far too many miles on the clock.”

Time Out critic Andrzej Lukowski added: “Viva Forever! has an awful script and a small pool of Spice Girls hits to work with, mostly rearranged bafflingly.

“A dull, pointless exercise in not giving the people what they really, really want.”

Industry newspaper The Stage chipped in with a scathing review. Lisa Martland wrote: “Too many characters are sketchy caricatures or stereotypes, however hard the cast attempts to give them substance.

“Indeed, the narrative lumbers along packed with large dollops of dull dialogue, leaving one longing for another musical interlude.”

But the musical has already amassed ticket sales of £4million and bad reviews won’t put off the band’s loyal fans.

They include talent agency owner and former model Sonia Scott McKay. She could even have become a Spice Girl after being asked to go to an audition, not knowing it was for the band.

Sonia, 41, from Glasgow, said: “The Spice Girls were a worldwide phenomenon and they took girl power to another level back in the 90s. Men everywhere are still recovering.

Sonia says the girl group have good enough songs to last a musical

“I like their music and I think that if you like the music, you’ll enjoy the show, even if the reviews haven’t been good.

“If they’ve got enough good songs to last a two-hour concert, I think they’ve got enough good songs to last a two-hour musical.

“And given that they’ve already sold so many tickets for it, it can’t be a flop, regardless of what the critics say. So I would absolutely still go and see it if it came to Scotland.”

Fellow fan Cecilia McDaid also believes there’s little chance of Posh, Sporty, Ginger, Baby or Scary being too bothered about the reaction of the critics.

The 42-year-old, from Blantyre, said: “I would go and see the show in a minute. People are just jealous of their success.”

Cecilia says the band appealed to people like her as they were about more than just the music.

She added: “I really loved their attitude to everything – they just didn’t seem to care about what other people thought of them.

“They said that if you wanted to go out and do something, you should go out and do it. I think that gave a lot of people the confidence to do things they might not have done otherwise.

“The Spice Girls were really something different and they overwhelmed everyone else. So I don’t think they’ll be worried about what a few critics have to say. Good luck to them.”